Two rockets hit Russian embassy in Damascus

Al-Golani said the Russians are not targeting the IS group, but are instead striking at militants who are fighting the government.

He added that the war is becoming more of a narrowly defined contest between Assad and his supporters on one side and IS on the other, and that a few of the other players are probably dropping out.

Russian Federation says its air strikes in Syria that began September 30 were targeting Islamic State, though many of them have struck in areas held by other rebel groups, including a few that have received backing from Assad’s foreign enemies. Russian Federation has denied the allegation.

In an audio message on Tuesday, Islamic State, which controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq, urged Muslims to launch a “holy war” against Russians and Americans.

Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, called the Russian strikes “reckless” and “indiscriminate”.

“Our talks there are very professional, they’re very constructive, and I expect them to lead in very short order to an agreement”, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a news briefing. The rockets were fired from the eastern edges of the capital, where Islamist rebels are entrenched.

The Sunni groups are also unlikely to be interested in protecting a multi-sectarian government, but rather more likely to be interested in exacting revenge against Assad and his cronies if the Sunnis ever have the opportunity to do so, he said.

“They are highly effective”. The placard at right with Arabic reads, “yes to Russian-Syrian cooperation”. “The situation in terms of ammunition and weapons with the Syrian opposition is excellent”.

Foreign states opposed to Assad have supplied the TOW guided missiles to a number of rebel groups via an operations room in Turkey, one of the states in the region that wants Assad gone.

“We call upon all holy warriors who are besieged in Hama to ignite all the fronts and then merge with Muslims who are approaching”, a statement said. “It increased in the last days, and it has proven its effectiveness”, he said. The Russian military intervention to prop up the Syrian government has put new scrutiny on the CIAs secret support to Syrian rebels fighting Bashar Assad, raising questions about how far the U.S.is willing to go in empowering its proxies to take on Vladimir Putins allies.

Meanwhile, the Syrian ambassador to Russia, Riyad Haddad, said almost 40 percent of ISIL’s infrastructure has been destroyed in Russian air strikes.

Moscow’s strikes have concentrated on areas in northwestern Syria where Al-Nusra has a powerful presence, mostly in the province of Idlib.

“We are not striving for any kind of leadership over Syria”.

“That was a complete and total failure for a plethora of reasons”, said CNN senior worldwide correspondent Arwa Damon, who has reported several times from Syria.

“In the last 24 hours, Su-34, Su-24M and Su-25SM planes carried out 88 sorties against 86 terrorist infrastructure targets in the provinces of Raqqa, Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Aleppo”, the ministry said in the statement.

The developments underscored the complications brought about by Russia’s military intervention in Syria, which is fueling an already brutal conflict with a multitude of radical groups.

To be sure, Russia’s air campaign in Syria, in contrast to that of the US-led coalition, has in the Syrian military a relatively capable ground force which theoretically gives it a strategic advantage.